LEDBURY people will be asked to help fund a new bell for the parish church, in memory of the local people who marched away to war, never to return.

Organisers say it will be a fitting memorial to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, and to honour the fallen of the local area.

Funding for a large-scale re-ordering of the bells and frame in the tower of St Michael and All Angels will be sought from various grant-making bodies, including the Aviva Community Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, because the final bill is likely to top £200,000.

The hope is that the final outcome will ensure that Ledbury's bells will continue to the heard for generations to come, with enough trained men and women to ring them.

Three skilled bell-ringers have moved from the area recently, and a shortage of ringers can cause problems every Sunday, when bells need to be rung.

The project will help to fund new training equipment and software for trainee bell-ringers in Ledbury.

But it is the "Bell to Remember" aspect of the project which is likely to grab the attention of the local community, during the centenary year marking the end of the Great War, and the hope is that local people will dig deep and find around £10,000 to fund the new memorial bell.

Donations towards the £200,000 total for all the improvements are already flooding in from local residents, with around £30,000 in the pot; but more will be needed and a key element will be the Bell to Remember.

Tim Keyes, the tower captain at St Michael and All Angels said: "The church wants to invite the people of Ledbury to fund one of the new bells as a memorial to those who died in the Great War and conflicts since, and also as a token of a commitment to peace by the people of Ledbury.

"It would be 'A Bell to Remember': to remember those people of Ledbury who died in the Great War, and in conflicts since, four of whom were bell ringers, and to remember that peace is a blessing that we should not take lightly and for which we should continue to work in any way that we can."

Mr Keyes added: "It will be in the tower for centuries to come with an appropriate inscription reminding successive generations in Ledbury of this important principle."

The bells, frames and fittings in the tower do need serious attention.

Mr Keyes said: “We commissioned a report earlier this year which advised that we recast two of the bells which are a poor match for the other six; it advised we have the frame de-scaled and repainted, and have the bells removed, repaired and re-tuned.

"This all amounts to a lot of work and made us think, why don’t we take this opportunity to do other things that we have long talked about as well? One of these is to add two light bells to our current ring of eight since the heavier bells are beyond the capacity of most of our Sunday morning ringers to ring. This would allow us to have a harmonious light ring of six when we need it, and would make it easier to teach beginners in this fascinating hobby. We would also install a training bell to help with teaching and broader education about bell ringing."

Mr Keyes added: “Of course there is a cost and we have already submitted a bid to Aviva for funding, but we need your votes!"

To help click on the link: https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/4-2474

Learn to Ring in Ledbury – Health and well being category

The project will be officially launched on November 13, at 6pm, at a meeting in Ledbury Parish Church, which all local people will be invited to attend.